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Maxa Solutions swings high with its launch of charity software, CHARiot.

November, 2007 - Maxa Solutions, a division of Maxa Technologies, is to launch its new EPOS charity software to target the charity sector.

Developed specifically for the charity market, CHARiot will fulfil the new but growing need in charity shops to provide management and business information in a very easy to use format.

Charity shops operate on very low budgets, and up until recently have not had professional management teams in place to encourage and push through EPOS systems to provide clear management data about business performance and trends. EPOS systems are mostly driven by inventory levels and Charity shops depend on donated goods to a greater extent which are not inventory controlled. It is mostly volunteers that run the shops and their demographics have been a barrier to the implementation of EPOS.

Andrea Percival, director of Maxa Solutions said; "We have seen a real opportunity within this charity market segment. There is a tide of change and charity organisations are realising the benefits of employing professional management from other retail sectors, and with these professional managers comes the requirement for management and business information."

Adding, "CHARiot will also be very useful for charity shop volunteers who aren't very computer savvy and would find the pictorial front end software easy to use and so make the transactions much smoother and faster".

The CHARiot solution, developed in conjunction with specialist provider Nisyst, is a fully proven retail EPOS system with comprehensive, integrated, head-office facilities. The tiling screen is touch screen based and because of the graphical design of this screen, it is extremely simple to use, and actually quite difficult to make mistakes. If the keys are pressed in the wrong order, it will either not allow the function or it will advise what "it" thinks the user should be doing.

A sale is made either by touching the appropriate pictorial product / category "hot-keys", scanning the product barcode, or using the product lookup (Magnifying glass). In this way, donated goods sales without barcodes or PLU, are recorded in detail and are reported on in the same manner as purchased / scanned items. Donations are catered for within the tilling function and the completion of Gift Aid details can either be prompted on screen, or a form can be printed on the receipt printer.

User Log-on ensures that management information can be related to the till operator at the time of the sale and secure functions can be enabled / disabled based on configurable user permissions. All payment types are catered for including vouchers and account. Cheque and Credit card payments have help screens to remind the cashier what to check for.

A single sale can be cashed off using multiple payment methods. If using integrated chip + pin, the till will have a pin pad and the process will be fully automated. The system is accredited by most major High Street banks - making the implementation of integrated chip + pin simple.

Charity shops are now the 5th largest presence in the high street by type of shop. According to Charity Finance annual survey*, almost 100 charitable organisations comprise more than 5,800 shops with annual turnover in excess of £468 million. This growth is set to continue as the sector develops in terms of expertise.

About Maxa Solutions:

Maxa Solutions provide integrated business IT solutions for the retail market. It is providing a first of its kind solution to a sector that demands exclusive functionality in order to reap full benefits and return of investment from IT investments. Maxa Solutions has focused on an integrated solution for EPOS and Retail Management specifically for Charity Shops, since there were no generic systems offering anything bespoke for this market.

CHARiot's volunteer friendly EPOS covers both donated and purchased goods, time and attendance, petty cash and banking. Powerful retail management tools at Head Office provide real time visibility and control of critical shop activities and performance, whilst also managing purchased goods, suppliers and stock management. Interface at Head Office to accounts systems ensure that the data from retail operations is available to executive accounts reporting and fund raising marketing.

Maxa Solutions will continue to develop solutions for niche sectors.

Tel: 0161 942 7874
Fax: 0161 942 7875
info@maxasolutions.co.uk
www.maxasolutions.co.uk

About Nisyst:

Established in 1991, NISYST' S vision was to successfully deliver a totally new and refreshing business solution to the retail market, a solution based on 'total control' that would enable retailers from every spectrum of the industry to match the constantly evolving and very demanding requirements of an unpredictable environment.

By closely monitoring the expectations and ambitions of retailers, Nisyst were able to create NPoS, a future proofed, flexible and affordable solution that caters for a myriad of retail applications. Ongoing research and development and continuous investment in the product portfolio and support mechanism has maintained the companies reputation as one of the leading Retail Solution Providers in the UK and throughout Europe.

Tel: 01204 706000
Fax: 01204 577988
www.nisyst.co.uk

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